


Genesis

by Eris97



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Badass Rey, Ben teases the hell out of Rey, Blood, Eventual Smut, F/M, Gen, Gore, Last humans, Post Zombie Apocalypse, Rey wants to murder Ben, Rey's POV, Sorry Not Sorry, Survivors, Violence, a bit dark, angsty, badass Ben Solo, hate/love, irate Rey, open hostility, perverted Ben, repopulating the earth, sadistic habit, slightly graphic description, virologist Rey, zombie killing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-28 14:14:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15050906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eris97/pseuds/Eris97
Summary: Three years after a virus had infected the world that turned humans into zombies, ate each other and the remaining human population, Rey had thought that she was the only one left.Until she met Ben Solo; the one person that she hated the most.





	1. Life sucks

**Author's Note:**

> I want a lil zombie apocalypse, nobody stop me. Though this doesn’t mean I'm pausing or stop writing 'Black heart' haha I just needed this plot bunny out of my head lol
> 
> This might turn out to be a bit dark... don’t ask me why, I don’t know too :P 
> 
> Again, if there are any errors on grammars and spellings, blame it on the fact that I dont have a proofreader nor a beta lol

"Damn you're one ugly motherfucker." She said as she loaded bullets in her weapon, sneering at the mess of blood and exploded guts that surrounded her, her own clothes were stained with drying blood.

On the ground a couple of feet away from her was a wounded man-- an infected-- whose legs were severed during the explosion that she had triggered earlier. He snarled at her, having lost the ability to speak after the virus had overpowered his system.

Seeing one had survived, Rey had decided to kill the last one before leaving. The infected, again, snarled at her, baring blunt yellowish teeth beneath its blood stained mouth, its milky white eyes stared hungrily at her as it desperately pulled itself across the ground in an attempt to reach her and attack.

Rey allowed it to crawl closer to her, watching with sadistic amusement at how it was trying to struggle to get closer to its meal before she raised her loaded rifle and aimed it right on its head. The infected tried to swat the rifle away with one arm and reach for her but slammed face down on the ground upon losing its balance. Rey blew on her gum, making a bubble and popped it before pulling the trigger.

The sound of one lone gunshot echoed all throughout the building.

Rey stared at her latest victim, head blown up and its body still twitching in involuntary reaction.

"Well, now that's over." she huffed and blew some of her hair away from her face, pulling a glass bottle from her messenger bag and a pair of disposable gloves. She knelt beside the corpse. With gloved hands she carefully sliced a deep wound near an artery on the dead infected's neck and caught most of the blood that gushed out of the wound in her bottle.

Once upon a time, she hated killing infected people. They were still humans who were simply infected by some virus that had a very deadly effect on a human.

Three years ago, The world shook at the news of a deadly airborne virus that was accidentally released. She couldn’t remember the details on how it all had happened; she was too preoccupied with her own safety to know the details of the accident.

All around her, people died because of the infection. A few weeks after the outbreak, that was when they found a new threat. 79% of those who had caught the virus died, 21% of the general populace was immune to the virus. However, 80% of those who were infected died due to various reasons; mostly it was complications in their organs and hemorrhaging, the rest were heart failure and some other more, while the remaining 20% percent of the infected had mutated into something different.

The virus, upon entering the human system, transmutes into a different kind of pathogen, one that takes away the rational part of the thought processing system in the brain, making the infected person unable to think properly. Other than that, it had affected the human brain to adapt into a more predatory sense wherein it will attack and eat almost anything alive that it encounters. Not only that, the newly transmuted virus can be spread out by saliva from an infected person. So if one was bitten and had escaped from being eaten, then that person only had less than 24 hours before he or she will transform into one of the infected.

So even with if a lot had survived, not one of them was immune to the new virus. They just became food for the infected.

For three years, she had lived all by herself. There were times in the past, especially at the start, she had people with her. But one by one they died, eaten or had become an infected themselves.

It broke her heart, to be the one to pull the trigger when they changed.

Yeah, she hated killing them back then, but now, she would kill them in a heartbeat, without batting an eye and without thinking about it.

Why won’t she? They may look human but they wanted to eat her, so it’s either them or her and she hell didnt want to become one of them, wandering aimlessly around till she found her next meal-- that is if there were still any uninfected around. She'd prefer her own safety and live rather than grieve over the fact that she had been murdering infected people left and right for the past three years.

Thinking that she had gotten enough blood, Rey placed a lid over the top, wiped the remaining blood that stained the side of the bottle with a cloth and stowed it on the side of her messenger bag. She tossed the cloth to the side as she exited the room, heading straight to the fire exit at the side of the building and carefully made her descent to the bottom where her motorbike was waiting for her.

The sound of gravel crunching underneath her was the only sound can be heard as she approached her bike. Rey sighed as she took off her messenger bag and carefully placed it on the carrier she had attached to the back of it, jumped on it and revved it to life. The sound of the engine roared beneath her as she maneuvered it out of the alley and into the desolate streets of Niima.

Niima was a small city that thrived more on metal business back in the days because of the mineral mine from the mountains nearby. Even small, it was bustling with life from its inhabitants, buyers and of course those investors who are looking for an opportunity to make their business bigger. Rey had lived here when she was young-- well younger, right when she was not yet in the foster system, where she worked for a guy who had her scavenge for parts in his junkyard.

But that was a very long time ago. A good woman had brought her up during the foster system, cared for her, helped her move out of Niima, sent to high school and eventually had given her the scholarship for college she deserved. After that her internship was under Leia's care too in her own medical company.

Without Leia Organa, she wouldn’t have graduated and become a virologist-- well almost become a virologist. If not for Leia, she might have still been scavenging this very city and was possibly dead before the outbreak had even got out.

But here she was, back in Niima, one of the cities that had small amount of infected lurking around. The big cities however were the ones brimming with infected humans.

Rey continued to speed through the barren city that was now infested with plants, overgrown from the gardens of buildings or had strived to survive in the small cracks on the ground that they grew in. Three years was enough time for the plants to take over the city, it wasn’t a total jungle, but still it didnt look like a metal industry city anymore.

When she saw her destination from afar, she started to let go of her hold on the gas, letting the bike decelerate slowly till it came to a complete stop in front of a supermarket. The place had most of its glass broken, not much was looted from it during the outbreak, how could people probably loot when the infected were coming for them left and right, eating them before they had the chance to escape.

Rey entered with her pistol at hand instead of the rifle. She had cost a grenade and a few bullets already during the fight earlier and she was short on those so she had to save. Luckily she had a lot of goddamn bullets for a .45 caliber pistol. Most of the shelves were empty because she had already taken them back in the past, especially the canned or packed instant food.

Most of the raw meat was unsalvageable, given that the city had lost its power supply when the power plant had stopped operating. She only lived in canned food and the instant ones. She would love fresh meat but it was hard to raise livestock now that even the animals are gone. Even the sewer rats..

The infected chose no one and nothing as long as they were alive that they even fight amongst themselves so it was rare to see a hoard, but not impossible.

She went straight to the hardware department and began to scan for tools that she needed, eyeing the heavy chainsaw that was strapped on a wall on the far corner of the room. She had always wanted to bring that with her, but the problem was it was too heavy for her to carry and she wouldn’t risk taking it, what if she was attacked while she had it with her? It would definitely slow her down.

But then again it would make a great weapon during fighting.

Rey imagined it roaring in her hand as she hacked and sawed her way through the bodies of the infected, gushing blood, guts and severed limbs everywhere.

_Damn_.

She had developed a very sadistic addiction.

Oh well, it was still heavy so that was a no for her. _For now._

A clatter was heard behind her followed by a slow growl. Instantly Rey perked up, gripping her pistol with her index finger hovering above the trigger. She turned her body to the side, giving the infected a sideways glance. A woman this time, covered in dirt and dried blood from her blonde hair to her ripped shirt and jeans, in one hand the infected held an amputated head, blood still dripping from the neck. From what she could see, this infected had killed one of her own, since the eyes of the head that she held were already a milky white color.

That was the only way to tell if one had been infected, that and the small fact that they wanted to eat you.

The infected gave another low growl, dropping the severed head to her side as Rey coolly raised her pistol towards the infected. There was no heart pounding scene, nor a nervous or hesitated thought that would cross her mind like it normally had in movies or books that she had read. Over the past years, she got too used to killing that it seemed like a normal thing for her like breathing. She wasn’t even surprised when the infected had appeared behind her. To her, it was just another bullet wasted, another gun fired, another infected dead.

The infected growled louder at her before it had bolted into a sprint. With cold eyes, Rey pulled the trigger and the bullet went straight into the infected's brain. Unlike the previous one today, this shot was clean and had only let out a drizzle of blood from the gun wound on the middle of the infected's forehead. Immediately it went face down on the ground.

Sure that it wasn’t going to move again, she resumed in taking the supplies she needed and stowed them away in her messenger bag.

Yep. This was just one of her usual days where she would scour the area for the number of infected people that was around, to check if she had already looted every single place there was in the city. But in the time that she had spent here in Niima, she had never encountered another uninfected human being. It was like that for a very long time now.

Honestly, it was a bit sad and lonely to be alone, and being alone had only made her imagination run wild. Could it be that she was the only person living? No. There had to be a sanctuary somewhere. She wanted to see more humans, to give her hope that humanity wasn’t totally wiped out by those monsters.

After making sure that she had what she needed, she headed straight for her motorbike outside and was about to kick the vehicle to life when she heard a clatter and a shadow pass from the corner of her eye. She whipped her head towards the direction.

_No infected there._

Rey wasn’t one who usually investigates whatever piques her curiosity. She was always a careful one, making sure that she won’t put herself in any kind of danger unless necessary. But this feeling she had right now was eating at her brain, making her uneasy and agitated.

"Fuck it." she swore under her breath and pulled herself away from her bike, prepping her pistol by reloading it, a hand hovering above the trigger. She waited for a sound to appear, any sign of movement as she carefully approached. If she confirmed that it was just an infected then she would simply kill it and leave.

A rumbling sound appeared. It was faint, but was loud enough for her to deduce its whereabouts.

_A car engine?_ She mussed as she approached the sound carefully. She passed through the alley and emerged on the other side of the building. The rumbling sound had disappeared.

Walking around, she spotted a midnight blue car right in the middle of the street, glimmering under the heat of the midday sun. Rey tentatively approached it, admiring the beauty of the car. It would have been much prettier if it only didnt sport any dent, scratches or the weird looking modification on its bumper and windows.

Shit it looked like one of those badass race cars straight from a post apocalyptic movie.

Rey tentatively raised a hand over the hood, immediately feeling the cooling heat emanating from underneath the hood, telling her that the engine had been turned off not too long ago. Which meant...

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A voice behind her, deep and smooth, sending shivers rippling throughout her body. She actually froze for a few seconds before she had finally calmed her racing thoughts and turned.

She was met with a bright pair of honey colored eyes.


	2. Oh, hell no!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m gonna work on this fic slowly :P and word count is gonna vary cause I’m crazy lol

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

With wide eyes, Rey turned around to look at the man standing behind her. Bright honey colored eyes stared back amusedly at her, with a hint of surprise in them.

She knew that face.

She would never ever forget that face.

She was staring straight at the smiling face of Benjamin Solo.

Rey felt her heart slowly start to pound wildly against her chest along with that faint fluttering feeling. At the back of her mind, she was silently berating herself for still harboring even the slightest remnant of her feelings for him. She remained her visage passive, never letting any emotion show as her head was flooded with memories of her past.

Benjamin Solo; Leia's only son. The stupid crush of her teenage years.

She had to admit (begrudgingly) that she admired him way back then, but she eventually realized how much of a jerk he was when she got to know him better. All those sideways glance and sneaking peeks she did back when she was a teenager making visits to Leia's house gave her the wrong impression of him. Sure he looked like the silent and serious type, especially when she would catch him reading alone in the library. But oh she was so damn wrong.

When she had begun internship with his mother, she knew she hated Ben Solo.

From admiration, she grew irked with him as time grew by, witnessing how he flirted with women and toyed with their feelings.

Hell, she'd thought it was jealousy since he didnt reciprocate her feelings back in the day, but when he had tried to hit on her and flirted her, she knew without a doubt that she wanted to murder him, even when his sweet words would send her heart aflutter. Even now, three years later, those heated gaze of his still sent her heart pounding and made her uncomfortable, but she hid it behind a cold mask.

And thus, since then they were always on each other's neck.

Rey continued to stare at the man who looked like he didnt change in the three years that she hadn’t seen him. He was still ridiculously tall, pale skin against his clothes (The guy still had a fetish for the color black) and of course his hair was still wavy that reached his nape, his ears poking under the mane.

Yep, he still looked the same as she remembered him. Although this time instead of leather jackets, and V-necks, he looked like he was on his way to war; sporting a bullet proof vest, with rows of bullets crisscrossing across his chest and back. He also had multiple weapons slung all around him; three at the back together with an axe and on his belt buckle were four pistols in their holsters.

Although those aviator glasses that he sported back then still hung on the side of his belt buckle.

The smug smile on his face widened when he saw her gaping.

"Long time no see Rey." he mused.

Rey stared at him dead in the eyes, her own eyes blank and unblinking.

She had thought—hoped— that he had died during the outbreak, bleeding to death or any shit. But it seemed like he was immune just as she was. Great.

Of all the people in the world that could have survived and crossed paths with her, why did it have to be him?

 _Why was he still alive?_ Oh well, guess she could fix that.

Rey casually raised her pistol towards him.

His eyes widened at the sight and before could he even move she pulled the trigger.

"Gah!" he cried out as the bullet hit him. The impact of the bullet had sent the tall man stumbling backwards, landing on the pile of rubble behind him.

"What the fuck woman!?" he growled out as he sat up, peering down at his vest to see the gaping hole on it, lucky that the bullet didnt tore through the worn out bullet proof vest. He raised a glare towards her way, but Rey had only responded with a cool shrug.

"I should’ve aimed higher." was she said. Again, she grabbed the top slide of her pistol and pulled on it, reloading another bullet in the chamber and aimed it at the man.

"I'll do it again." she announced, holding the pistol up.

"Wait, wait hold up!" he screamed and swatted away the pistol from her hand, but she was fast and was already pulling another weapon from her holster. Apparently he was faster than her and had already rose from the ground, grabbed her hand, yanked it behind her and turned her around so she hit her back against his chest.

"Dammit woman you're still feisty as ever!" he hissed against her ear, his warm breath tickling the shell of her ear.

"Let me go!" she hissed between gritted teeth, struggling to get herself free from his grasp.

"And let you kill me? Not a chance." he barked back and tightened his grip on her hand that she was sure it was going to leave bruises on her skin. They both struggled against one another; one was trying to free herself and the other was keeping her from doing so.

A growl from afar caught their attention and before they knew it, the infected had already sprinted towards them. Ben let go and shoved her to the ground to pull out a gun and began firing at the infected. After two shots, Rey got up to her own feet and stared at the scene before her.

The infected went down within seconds, but not far from it, a hoard was approaching them fast. Rey's eyes almost bulged out from shock. There was a horde in Niima? How in the hell did she missed that?

"Get in the car!" he ordered. She blinked up at him.

"What?!"

"Get in the fucking car!" he hissed and shoved her towards the midnight blue car that she had been admiring earlier, pulling the backseat door open and pushed her in before he took his own seat in the driver’s seat.

"My bike!" she hollered and tried to go out, but the hoard had already reached them and had begun pounding on the car, shaking it as if it would prompt them to go out.

'Your what?!" Ben asked as he pushed the keys to the ignition and turned them, revving the car into life.

"My motorbike!" she answered back.

"Where?"

"On the other side of the building." She heard him groan out in frustration.

"No time!" he barked out and maneuvered the car, ramming the infected in front of the car. Blood splattered against the windshield and on the side windows, resulting from the run over.

Tires squealing on the ground, Ben turned the car around, floored the gas and rammed the remaining infected that tried to chase them as he sped out to the open highway. The car shook at every bump of human body that went under the tires, but it didnt seem to stop Ben from driving, he even sped up, dragging some of the infected that got caught in the bumper. They killed most, but there were still a few left alive.

"You okay back there?" he asked when they were out of range, the wipers on the window squeaked as they began cleaning a small part of the wind shield. Rey glared at him.

"I'm fine!" she said. "We have to go get my bike."

"Forget it." he simply said and frowned at the slightly clean windshield. "Where's your place at?"

"What?" She raised an eyebrow at him. He gave her a quick glance before returning his gaze on the road.

"Judging by the light amount of weapons you have, I'm assuming that you have a hidden lair somewhere nearby, so where is it?"

"I want my bike." She said instead of answering, glowering at him from the rearview mirror. He only chuckled, winking at her.

"Not a chance sweetheart."

Anger bubbled in her at the endearment. Rey scooted herself towards the other end of the backseat, just behind the passenger's seat. Angling herself, she raised her foot and kicked him straight on the shoulder. The car swerved for a moment.

"Are you crazy?! You're going to get us killed!" he screamed at her as he managed to get the car back to its course and not swerving left and right. Rey just continued to glare at him.

"Who are you to tell me to forget about my bike? That is the only vehicle I have! Plus I have supplies there! And the specimen I got for my research!" she barked back at him but it didnt seem to faze him, so she opted for a more brutal and threatening approach.

"I will get us both killed if you don’t let me go back and get my bike!" she threatened, raising her leg once more. She saw how his knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel tighter than necessary, grinding his teeth against one another as he processed his thoughts. It was a bad habit of his whenever he was considering his options.

"Fine!" he conceded, stepping on the break all of a sudden that sent her flying against the back of the passenger's seat. Ben turned sideways to face her.

"We're picking that bike of yours, and then you lead the way to your hideout." It wasn’t a request. It was an order.

Without another word, he started the car again and turned it, circling around the other side of the building where her bike was. They both sat in relative silence during the short trip back, with Rey glaring daggers at the side of the man's profile.

She knew she was acting like a kid right now, but she seriously hated this man so much that she would rather spend her remaining time on earth alone rather than waste it with him.

"That garbage is your bike?" he asked, snapping her out of her daze thoughts. Rey felt the car stop and once it did, she flashed out of the door and stomped her way to the bike, never gracing Ben with a verbal answer. Who was he to say that her bike was garbage?

Immediately she straddled the bike, turning the key that was still stabbed on the ignition and kicked the motor to life.

Still in neutral, Rey twisted her hand over the gas throttle, making the bike roar. She whipped her head towards the bloodstained car with Ben watching her from behind the glass.

She scowled at him and gave him the dirty finger before she switched the gears, pulled her foot off the break and zoomed away from him.


	3. Intruder Alert!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have deadpool to thank for this chapter nyahahahahha
> 
> And also Im posting this drunk so expect me to edit it in the next update... or tomorrow... or never... i dunno LMFAO

"Stupid! Stupid piece of shit!" she roared as she stripped her bag off her shoulder and stormed her way through her home. She thrust a hand through the bag to retrieve the bottle of blood from the infected that she had taken earlier before she threw the bag to the side, its metal contents clanking against the cold tiled floor.

Rey was still seething when she got home.

Without a doubt, even when she tried to lose Ben during the ride back to her place, he had clearly followed her all the way back. The man had kept up with her speed and had easily seemed to predict where she will pop out even when she curved through smaller roads where his car won’t fit. Yes, tried as she might, she couldn’t lose him. She had even closed the electric dome immediately upon arriving. Just letting a small opening for her to go through, but he still got through with his car. Even with electricity crackling around the car, its engine, system and driver were left unharmed. Whatever modifications he did to his car, it was obviously an advanced one.

She even literally slammed the front door shut on his face when she came in, but he still followed.

It didnt take long for her to hear the door slamming open, followed by heavy footsteps behind her.

Rey ignored the sound.

She ignored the intruder. Ignored the fact that there was another uninfected human being in her home right now with her. Instead, she clutched the bottle she held and sauntered to the middle of the house where her living quarter turned laboratory was found. She pulled out a pair of disposable gloves before she distributed the blood into two smaller vials and placed them inside a cooler to preserve them.

In the three years of her solitude, the thought of being the only human alone in the world scared her. But the infected weren't really dead, they weren't reanimated corpses turned into cannibals. They weren't zombies, they were just sick.

So one night she had decided that she would try to find a cure for them, maybe put what she had learned into good use. She may haven’t became a licensed virologist— she was still an intern back then when the virus broke out— but still, she knew things, and humility aside, she was quite talented in her chosen profession.

"Nice place." That deep voice broke her out of her revere. Narrowing her eyes down in a menacing stare, Rey grabbed an empty beaker from the table and hurled it towards the man behind her. The said projectile sailed through empty air and broke into a thousand pieces after hitting the far wall behind her. No Ben there.

Dammit, he's fast.

"I knew you'd do that." the voice appeared again behind her, closer this time. When she turned around with her hand raised in the air for a strike, he had only caught it in one hand and smirked down at her.

"I see you're still a geek." he added eyeing her blood stained retro T-shirt; Super Mario printed on it was barely visible because of the blood. He leaned his face closer to hers. Rey knew what he was doing. He had done it pretty much all the time back in the past; he was trying to hit on her.

She felt the same familiar embarrassing sensation crawl through her at how he was slowly leaning over towards her, his eyes searching her face as if he was going to kiss her. And lord knows she shouldn’t allow for it to happen, but her body was practically screaming for another human touch. She chastised herself and squared her shoulders, leaning away from him and roughly pulled her hand away from his grasp.

"Why the fuck are you here!?" she spat out at him, stepping back and folding her arms across her chest with her chin up, sizing him up with a look. Ben seemed unfazed with her hostility and straightened. It took all of her strength to keep herself from going berserk here.

Oh! How she would love to wipe that stupid mocking grin off his face.

Instead of answering her, he simply walked around her laboratory, eyeing the equipment that she had garnered from the past.

"You’re all alone here, aren't you?" he asked as he twiddled with the low frequency beacon that she had set up long ago. The machine was already worn down, but it was still sending out a three letter message at every interval in hopes that someone might pick up the signal and lead them to her.

She eyed him, keeping silent since he hadn’t answered her question. She wouldn’t grace his with one as well. He looked like he already got the idea and huffed out in defeat, raising both hands in the air in mock surrender.

"alright." he conceded. She just raised an eyebrow at him. "I was just passing by Niima, I have a different destination. But then you popped out of nowhere and here I thought I had found a human settlement here, but it turns out that you're all alone here." he huffed, running a hand through his hair, another habit of his, not a bad one though since it only mused up his perfectly tousled hair.

She froze. _Dammit Rey! You’re doing it again._

"Gimme a break here Rey, I've been trying to look for another uninfected human being for a year, it’s been that long for me since I had been with another person's company and I need a place to stay, at least until I get to restock my supplies. So, what about you?"

"I'm sorry, me?" she asked, innocently pointing a finger at herself.

"No, I'm asking him." Ben said and pointed to the empty space beside her. "Of course I'm asking you woman!" Rey scoffed.

"So how long have you been alone?"

"Three years." She nonchalantly said back to him, shrugging and watching how his eyes widen at her words.

"Three years?" He blurted out, his tone incredulous. Rey liked what she sees though. It wasn’t everyday she gets to see a shocked look from Ben's either brooding or smug facade.

"And you didnt even try to look for another uninfected all those years?"

"Nope." she answered with a pop of her lips. "I find being alone is better than having to be the one to pull the trigger when my comrades become one of the infected." she answered, pulling her hands free and walked towards the other side of the room, far away from him.

"So you've decided to become a hermit then." he pointed out with that mocking tone of voice Rey absolutely loathed.

"I'm not a hermit." she hissed out, glaring at him. "I've been trying to make a cure for the virus, something that would reverse the effect. If I find the cure, I'd be with society again, so no, I'm no hermit." she finished.

"You said that you were merely passing by; where are you going?" she asked, genuinely curious. She hated Ben, that was a fact, but she wasn’t totally heartless. He might be one of the few humans left, so every one alive counted. It was his turn to raise an eyebrow at her.

'Why Rey? Are you planning to come along with me? You missed me that much?" he quipped. Rey fisted her hands to her side, willing for control over herself before she lashed out at him and commit another murder to her list. Only this time it wasn’t an infected that she had killed.

"You have no idea how I seriously want to kick your stupid ass out of my house right now." she hissed at him, but he only laughed at her. He crossed his arms and stared back at her.

"Well, I got a lead that there might be a human settlement in D'Qar. Just a small one, but it has a great probability that there may be humans left there uninfected."

 _D'Qar_.

That was a city a day's ride from Niima. All this time, there was a possibility that there were some other humans near her. If she had only ventured out, then she would’ve known.

"So, wanna go with me?" he offered. But she left that question unanswered.

She wasn’t sure herself if she wanted to leave. This was her place, she belonged here. True that she can’t stay here forever, but she had that feeling that she can’t yet leave. She continued ignoring him as she worked around the table, cleaning up the mess that she knew was going to appear again within the next few hours.

She'd rather distract herself by moving items around the table, who knows; maybe she might find something there that she could throw at him, she didnt want to waste another beaker if it wasn’t going to hit the next time she threw something at him.

Ben stood silent on the other side of the room, watching her with that heated gaze that he always gave her, no matter how many times she had seen that look back in the past, amplified by the fact that she hadn’t seen him for three years, it made her uncomfortable. The familiar heat pooling not only on her face but down to her insides as well.

If he won’t stop, then she might be tempted to poke his eyes out.

"Have you ever thought of the 'what if's'?" he broke the silence after a few minutes. Rey spared him a glance, looking up from the chemical bottles that she held.

"What if what?" She asked, placing the bottles to their rightful places. When she looked up, Ben was already walking towards her.

"What if," he started. "What if we were the only humans left in this world."

"That’s a stupid question." she stated in an as-a-matter-of-factly tone. "You told me yourself that there may be a human settlement in D'Qar, so why are you asking that stupid question?"

"Just think about it." he said, walking closer. "If you and I were the only ones left in the entire world, don’t you think it’s up to us to repopulate?"

Rey found herself backing up, trapped in a corner like a mouse being preyed upon by a cat. Ben had that feral look on his face as he drew closer, and she hated how helpless she felt under those heated gaze of his. Her back met the smooth cold concrete wall behind her, marking that she had nowhere else to go.

He shot a hand and propped it on the wall just at the side of her head, pushing his body close to hers like he was about to crush her.

"What if?" he whispered.

Trying to be subtle, Rey took out her switchblade from underneath the sleeve of her sweater and opened it, pointing the blade down a particular spot just below his belt.

"Touch me and you'll regret it." she hissed at him, clearly reading what was behind the question. His eyes twinkled in amusement.

"Oh sweetheart I don’t think I will." he murmured and pressed himself closer but froze in a split second, realizing what was happening. Rey stared up at him with a smug smile gracing her lips. He blinked at her, clearly marveled before he broke out into a fit of laughter.

"There’s a blade pointed at my dick right now is there?" he asked, wanting to confirm. Rey coolly answered him back, pressing the switchblade closer.

"Yes, yes there is."

It made him laugh even more, his laughter rumbling throughout the room. He looked at her one last time before stepping back with his hands in the air in mock surrender again.

"You win." he said. Rey raised the blade towards him, cheeks still flaring.

"I'm giving you permission to take whatever you need. But you need to be gone first thing in the morning, got it?" she ordered. He gave her a mock salute.

"Yes ma'am. I have a question though."

"Shoot."

"I'm sleeping with you in your bedroom right?"

She threw the switchblade towards his way which he had again easily evaded.

 


	4. Can I kill him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dunno why I like seeing them try to murder each other when it’s pretty obvious that they just seriously want to fuck each other :P

The morning light peered through the blinds from her window; it touched her face and gave warmth that prompted her to wake. Rey squinted harshly at the light, lifting a hand over her face to block it out. Like every morning when she woke, she always stays still for a couple more minutes on the bed, listening and reveling at the silence of her surroundings. Not a sound was heard and she loved it that way.

Of course there was no other noise in the house since she was positive that she was alone again. She and Ben had agreed last night that he would leave the first thing in the morning, right before Rey would wake up. Rey groaned as she stretched lazily over her bed, letting her body wake up.

Yep, Ben Solo was out of her life again, and again she had the solitude that she wanted. Well not that she really wanted solitude, she just didnt want to spend another hair ripping moment with him.

When her mind wasn’t muddled with sleep, she sighed and turned her head to the side and saw her bedroom door hanging wide open. Her eyes widened at the sight and it felt like she had been doused with ice cold water, her whole being alerted.

_What the hell?_ She was sure that she had closed the door last night.

Hell, she even locked it and set up her drawer against it for good measure, just to make sure that Ben wasn’t going to come into her room and crawl in bed with her. Because there was no way in hell she was going to let that happen.

Bolting up in a sitting position, Rey surveyed her surroundings; the drawer was already tucked away in one corner of her room, far awat from its original place and much more farther away from where she set it up against the door. She checked her body, trying to find anything odd at all but found nothing. Nothing in her room was out of place— well except for the drawer of course— but other than that, there was nothing else that was odd.

How the fuck did he got in her room without her noticing? Maybe she was too dead tired to notice the noise but there was one other question that bothered her; why the hell would Ben march in her room and do nothing?

Shaking her head, Rey convinced herself otherwise. No there was something else.

Forcing herself out of her bed, Rey began to crawl and creep every nook and cranny of her room; checking under the bed, over the railings of the window pane and of course her open door.

It took her over an hour looking for any hidden camera, a booby trap for a prank or some shit. Aside from being a cocky prick, Ben was immature-- well she wasn’t sure if he still had those tendencies wherein he would still leave pranks on her, but one could never be too careful.

Sheesh, the man was ten years older than her and yet he still acted like a kid.

Finally, she found one; a cord three inches off the floor connected from one side of her open door to the other. It was meant for her to trip herself on her way out. _Jerk_.

Huffing, she pulled on it hard and snapped it in half, letting the cord hang limply on each side. She stood up, straightened herself and walked out of her room unscathed.

Her house was not that big, but it wasn’t small either. All in all it was just big enough for her to live in. It was almost like a huge room with a bathroom. But a few improvements and carpentry, she added her bedroom on the right side and had placed a counter top to create a small section on the left part of the room which would make up the kitchen. In between the kitchen and her room was the living quarters-- well if one could still call it a living quarter, she had actually set up some laboratory equipment there together with some computers that she had taken to use, electricity provided by both the generator she had down at the basement (which she had most of her food storage and weaponry, in case there was a break in) and of the solar panels she had set up at the roof.

She padded through the room on socked feet, watching if Ben had left any more childish booby traps. Seeing that it was clear, she yawned and made her way to the kitchen to prepare herself some breakfast.

The moment that she opened the cabinet, she stared dumbfounded; Ben took all but one of the stacked cans and cereals that she had stowed away there.

Rey closed her eyes tightly to fight back the growing annoyance in her, to fight away the temptation of chasing Ben down and murder him. She took a deep breath and slowly released it before opening her eyes again. Nope, she wasn’t going to chase him down. She was going to stay here. Ben taking all of her food was something of a ploy to get her to follow him to D'Qar.

Silently wishing that she could kill him, Rey grabbed the remaining can in the cabinet and popped it open. Ben could keep the food he took; she still had a lot more to spare in her basement. She pulled up a spoon from the drawer and took her food with her towards the window with an overlooking view of the front of her house.

She sat in silence as she munched on her meal. It still didnt sit well with her why Ben had to open her bedroom door. Surely it wasn’t just to put that silly booby trap in it. So what? She was sleeping like a corpse for him to come in and sleep beside her? That couldn’t be right; she'd wake up if he had indeed done that.

Rey continued staring outside while eating her breakfast, watching the blue dome around her home crackle with electricity. It was one of the most advanced tech she had gotten, an electric dome that would keep out any infected that would try to infiltrate her home. Lucky for her, it only required solar panels to recharge and keep a decent amount of voltage to render an infected stunned upon touching the dome.

She couldn’t help but wonder where Ben was right now, she was pretty sure that he was on the road right now, hitting a hundred or so miles per hour, zooming over empty roads.

Rey chided herself when she imagined herself seating at the passenger's seat, going with him to D'Qar. No, she was staying in Niima and that was final, she'll stay here till she didnt need to.

She continued her meal in silence, staring out blankly before she stood up and threw the can. Trying to distract herself, she washed her spoon and sauntered to the bathroom to take a shower. The bath did little to distract her, but at least it cooled her off.

Getting out of the shower, she pulled on a towel off the rack, patted herself dry before draping the fabric around her body.

Again she scanned her bedroom, trying to make out if there was anything else out of place. But yet again, there was nothing odd. Surrendering, Rey huffed. Whatever Ben did, it was going to remain a mystery to her, unless it would reveal itself to her in time.

She padded through her room and pushed the drawer back to where it belonged. The moment she pulled on one of her drawers, she knew that feeling of oddity came washing through her again. The drawer felt light the moment she pulled on it, and when it was completely open, it bared to her the empty space within it, devoid of all her underwear.

Rey tried to fight the urge but she couldn’t. She knew that she was going to have to murder Ben.

"Benjamin Solo!"


	5. Roadtrip... Shotgun!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's have a small POV switch from our bloomer bandit shall we? Huehuehue

Ben smirked at himself, watching from the rearview mirror the black bag containing all of his hauls from Rey's house, including the pile of underwear that he had sneakily took from her bedroom.

He knew she was seething in rage right now, especially after he had taken all of her under garments with him. He knew that talking to her to try to convince her to come with him to D’Qar was a feat close to impossible, so he had to use a different measure to actually prompt her to come out of that cave of hers and follow him.

Hell knows how Rey will murder him the moment she catches up to him, so he had to floor it and speed to D'Qar in record time.

The sun was already high in the sky, slowly being covered by large storm clouds, an obvious sign for rain. Surely Rey had found out what he had done by now.

Has it really been three years since he had last seen Rey?

It felt like forever for him, but he could still easily picture out what she looked like three years ago; freckled skin, pink dainty lips and an irritated scowl on her face as she stood on the doorway with her hands akimbo.

She was younger then, more fragile looking compared to the blood covered, pistol armed woman that she is right now.

What are the odds? Of all the people in the world that he could run into, it just had to be her, the one person who loathed him.

He'll admit; it really amuses him to see her irked and flustered all the time. He found it cute whenever she was angry, and he tried to do his best to see her like that, even if it meant that she would try to murder him in his sleep.

Well, it was going to be worth it; going to hell when it was an angel that had sent him there.

The car hummed quietly as he zoomed pass the main road. Glancing down his wristwatch, he deduced that it had been four hours since he had left Rey's place.

"Anytime now." He amusedly told himself as he slowed down his car and maneuvered around a pile of wreckage that blocked the road. There were a couple of infected that tried to chase down his car, running after him as if they could catch up to him. Just for fun, he turned his car around a few times just to run them over.

When the virus broke out, it sure scared the hell out of him, thinking that he might be part of the percentage of the populace that wasn’t immune to the virus. Lucky for him he was immune. When it was all over, he got his fill of killing off zombies left and right as if he was a character in one of those video games that he played way back when he was young.

Killing was supposed to bother him but when he had begun killing, well, let’s just say he had developed a pretty sadistic sport; killing the infected for fun.

Smiling to himself, Ben ran over one last infected before he turned his car around and continued his course. Slowly, the sky darkened and it wasn’t long before raindrops fell from the heaven, cleaning the blood splattered on his car. He pressed a switch to activate the wipers, cleaning his windshield off of the blood.

A roar of an engine behind him caught his attention, loud against the patter of rain around him. Ben didnt have to turn nor look at his rearview mirror to know that it was Rey on her motorbike, approaching fast.

He heard a bang behind him, his car surging a bit forward at the impact of Rey crashing her bike against his bumper.

"Ben Solo!" she screamed at him when she moved her bike to his side, matching his speed. Nonchalantly Ben rolled down his window and leaned out to her, the spray of the rain was cold against his face and had immediately rendered him wet in a minute flat.

"I thought you didnt want to go to D'Qar with me?" he asked with a teasing smile on his face, it only irked her more. Rey glared at him from her bike, her body already soaked through by the rain.

"Don’t fucking play with me Solo, give me back what you took!" she barked back at him, he retaliated, innocently.

"I thought you said I can take whatever I needed?"

Ret visibly glowered at him, moving her bike closer to him, too close that the side of her bike almost touched his car. Rey shot a hand in his open window and grabbed a handful of his shirt before he could even lean away from her grasp.

"Don’t fucking mess with me. Give them back!"

"You're gonna get us in trouble with what you’re doing." he warned her, but her grip only tightened. She narrowed her eyes at him even more.

"You're already in trouble mister." she hissed, pulling him that most of his upper body was out of the window.

"Okay fine! I'll give them when we reach D'Qar." he reasoned, and before could she even bark back a response, he continued. "You're already here, so why waste the travel? At least you got to get out of Niima at least once; I'll even escort you back if you want to."

Rey watched him for a moment, eyes softening, but the glare didnt waver. Ben watched Rey chew on her lip. He knew Rey enough to know that she only does that when she was considering what he was suggesting, it was a habit of hers whenever she was in the middle of processing her thoughts. He almost laughed at himself upon realizing how much of a creep he was to know such small details of her.

"Fine!" she screamed at him under the rain and pulled her bike away from his car, maintaining a decent distance in between them.

"Nice! Now pull over!" he ordered, but instead of obeying, Rey only increased her speed.

"Why should I?"

"Because you're gonna get sick if you stay under the rain like that." Rey snorted at him and glanced down at herself for a fleeting moment before she pinned it back on the road in front of her.

"Gosh, I didnt know you cared Ben." she said, sarcasm dripping from her tone of voice. Ben   
rolled his eyes, gripping the steering wheel tighter to keep his irritation in check. He might love teasing Rey but he was as short tempered as her. They will definitely murder each other one day. He was sure of that.

"Well if you don’t want to then fine, be my guest. But if you get sick, don’t expect me to be anywhere near you." he said finishing the discussion. Rey simply stared coolly back at him and flipped him off before slowing down, deciding to tail behind him rather than ride side by side.

They continued to travel in that manner, silent if not for the heavy downpour that had only gotten stronger as the hour passed. Every once in a while he would steal glances at Rey behind him, watching how her lips had turned purple and how she shivered slightly. She looked like a fucking wet dog, kicked out of her own home. When she catches him staring from the rearview mirror, she would immediately put on a stubborn scowl on her face, brows crossing at the base of her nose. She would be the first to break eye contact and steer herself away from his line of vision.

There were times also that he would be the one to catch her glaring at him from behind, although again, she was the one who will be the first to look away.

Well, who’s to say that he was no gentleman? He had offered her a chance to be warm and cozy in his car, but she soundly refused him, and Ben was not one who repeated rejected offers. He wasn’t that stupid. Once was enough.

A few hours later, the rain had begun to slow into a drizzle before it came to a complete stop, letting the warm rays of the sun peek through darken clouds. In no time at all, everything around him was dry again.

He took this opportunity to take another glance at Rey behind him, watching how her drying brown hair whips around her face. At least she looked better now, although he did miss seeing her soaked through body.

Since he had taken all of her clean garments, it was either she was wearing nothing underneath that shirt and jeans, or she had to make do with the dirty ones in the laundry. Ah, she was too far away earlier for him to actually see and confirm his suspicions, that and he was busy driving.

Ben shrugged to himself.

Oh well. He would get his chance next time. He told himself as they sped through the open road.

* * *

"I'm going to kill him." Rey muttered under her breath as she maintained her speed, matching Ben's and keeping herself on his tail. She gritted her teeth together as she continued glaring at the bumper of his car that sported multiple stickers, thinking of all the ways she would murder Ben Solo.

"I'm gonna torture him." she continued. "I'm going to haul his bloodied body back to the lab and experiment on him. Make him my own personal lab rat. Or, maybe I should kill him then find a way to reanimate his corpse with the virus. Then kill him again and again and again."

The wind was warmer on her skin now, but she was still soaked through that it did little help to make her warm. She was still shivering, but at least it was making her clothes dry rather than keep her wet. She was an idiot for refusing the offer. But if she did, then she would have to leave her bike in the middle of the road, and she was not gonna let that happen.

Gripping the throttle harder than necessary, she pulled her left hand away from one handle and wiped away the sticky drying strands of her hair away from her face, some of the tendrils flying in her mouth.

After hearing Ben telling her that he will only give her stolen underwear back to her when they got to D'Qar, she understood why Ben had to take them. He tricked her into coming with him to the city.

But of all the things that he could take with him to prompt her, why her undergarments? He could’ve easily taken the beacon, or some of the lab equipment that were definitely hard to find, or better yet take her while she was asleep since she was a heavy sleeper and wouldn’t have woken up if in case he did. That was another reason why she barricaded the door of her room.

"It’s because he's a fucking pervert!" She muttered, putting her hand back to the handle and gripped it to keep herself from hurling her bike and ramming it again on the bumper of his car. Her bike may be old, but it could sure take on a hell of a damage.

"Ben Solo is a fucking pervert that’s why!" She screamed to the howling wind around her, knowing that the man mentioned won’t be able to hear her scream. As if feeling her deathly stare once again from behind him, Ben tilted his head and glanced back at her, one of his arms was lazily slung back as if he was just cruising slowly around town. Rey really wished she could ram her bike against his car, especially when he gave her a taunting smile that again made her insides flutter and her cheeks heat up.

Dammit Rey! That was Ben Solo, the man she most thoroughly hated. She wasn’t going to let him touch her. Or maybe more. Even if she starved for attention, for the company of another, she was most definitely not going to give herself like a weak wanton woman to him.

Hell might as well freeze over before that would happen.

Narrowing her eyes menacingly at him, she swerved her bike to the side, sped up and overtook him. She kept herself on the lead, never letting him get ahead of her. Rey stared to the beyond as the sun slowly crawled down from the sky and a tiny dot had appeared from the horizon. The city of D'Qar.

Or. The city where she would murder Ben. _Maybe_.

 


	6. In the dark

"Give them to me now." She said as she stared blankly at him, the fire crackling in between them as it sent up sparks up towards the star dotted night sky.   
  
The grip on the plastic spoon that she held on one hand tightened to the point that she felt the plastic almost snapping two. Her face had a blank look, eyes wide, dazed and cool, but she was burning inside, anger bubbling hot like a raging volcano near eruption.   
  
Ben on the other hand seemed nonchalant and highly amused at her current state, watching her from across the fire with both hands up in the air.  
  
"Give them to me now."  
  
Those were the exact words that she had said again and again the entire time they had arrived to D'Qar. They were what she had told him the moment that they had stopped and got out of their respective vehicles with the sun disappearing behind the horizon that made the sky a pretty color of orange and purple mix, right in the middle of the abandoned buildings of D'Qar.  
  
Ben had only smiled at her back then, lazily slung a small, black duffel bag over his shoulder as pushed his car door shut and sauntered pass her, never saying anything.  
  
She had repeated the demand to him many times earlier, all of which he had left disobeyed. When he didn't comply and kept silent as he walked into a building in the growing dark, she bolted towards the other direction, back to where they had come from, intending to ransack his car from top to bottom just to find what she was here for.   
  
But a hand had closed around her waist before she could even get far, Ben's mouth dangerously close to her ears when he whispered something to her.   
  
"You better stay or you're gonna get mauled by the infected." he was indicating how she didn't have any gun or weapon with her. She flayed around to get away from his grip, which she successfully did after a few moments.   
  
She wondered how he had known that she didn't have any weapon with her when she clearly hadn’t told him anything, even when she slung the trinket filled messenger bag over her shoulder just to make it appear like she had something.   
  
As if reading her mind, he shrugged.  
  
"If you had, you could’ve shot me while we were driving." he had said and walked away, curling his finger to tell her to follow him. Knowing that she had no choice at the matter since he was the one who currently had weapons and that she was at a disadvantage here with the growing dark and lack of weapons, Rey surrendered and followed Ben around till they stopped in a small building, got up to its open rooftop where Ben had declared that they camp out for the night.  
  
So here they were, locked up in a rooftop with a bonfire, sitting idly as they ate their dinner in silence. Till she snapped.  
  
"Seriously?" He scoffed as he rolled his eyes at her. Rey took a threatening step forward, walking around the fire to get closer to him without accidentally burning herself.  
  
"I’m serious." She said in a flat tone. "I'm gonna kill you now, scoop your guts out with this spoon and feed them to the infected."   
  
"You’re really serious at coming at me with just a spoon?" He added, a laugh escaping his mouth as he shook his head.

"You do know nobody had died because of a spoon?"  
  
Rey tilted her head to the side as if she was trying to consider it.   
  
"Then you'll be the first." Was all she said before she started lunging at him, swinging her spoon, trying to hit his face with it. She knew it was an empty threat, but she had to do something to get this irritation out of her system, to get the anger out of her mind. And the only way to do that was to vent it all out on Ben Solo.   
  
But if she managed to scoop out his eyes then it won’t be an empty threat.   
  
She continued swinging while he continued dodging, the both of them dancing around the fire that created shadows around them.   
  
"Of all the things that you could take to prompt me to follow you, why those?!" she hissed the question that she had been itching to ask him as she made a stabbing motion, grazing his left cheek, but his smiled widely and swatted her hand away when she lunged again.   
  
"So you know why I took them?" he asked in an amused tone, his eyes glinting in the light of the fire.  
  
"Just answer the fucking question Solo."  
  
The dark haired man chuckled and shrugged. "Seemed fun seeing you all flustered up. Honestly speaking, I was sure that the food was going to tick you off, wasn’t sure if taking your precious stash of underwear will really get you to chase after me, but seems like it did the trick."  
  
Rey stopped and groaned at his answer, closing her eyes tight and pressed her hand's heels on them to keep the throbbing sensation of a headache from coming. She inhaled sharply through gritted teeth as her breathing and heart rate increased. So the reason why this man chose to take her undergarments to get her to chase after him was that he wanted to see her angry?  
  
"That’s..." she hissed behind her hand, unable to finish her sentence with the anger bubbling up inside her.

Numbers popped in her mind, counting down from ten to one, a method in which she used to calm herself down. It worked eventually and her breathing evened out. Sighing heavily, she pulled her hand away from her face and opened her eyes, fixing them on his hazy image, keeping her gaze blank and dazed. Even when he didn't look clear in her vision now, she was sure that he still had that taunting smile on his face.  
  
Without another word, Rey screeched and lunged at him, letting all of her anger out at the man that simply dodged all of her attacks just by leaning left and right and swatting her hand away.  
  
When she made another stabbing motion, he grabbed her arm and twisted it so that he could curl it behind her.   
  
"Ah!" she cried out in pain as the pain on her hand intensified and made her drop the spoon clattering to the ground.   
  
"Okay hotshot, you cool now?" he asked, feeling him smile behind her. Rey tried to head-butt him when he leaned in closer to her, but he had leaned back in time and she only hit his hard chest.  
  
They were in the same position they were when they first met yesterday.   
  
"Get your hands off me!" she hissed at him as she ripped herself away from him, his hands loosening and letting her go. She took a few steps away from him, creating a relatively decent distance between them where she won’t be able to tackle or attack him in any way.   
  
She needed to cool down, now that the rational part of her brain was working now, she realized that all that screaming and screeching of hers was certainly going to attract the attention of the infected around them. Seeing how she was slowly cooling down, Ben walked away and dropped himself on the nearest wall, feet crossed at the ankle and hands limply on his lap while his head leaned back. Rey followed his movements and stared down at his seated form as he tried to stifle a yawn with a hand and his eyes fluttered close. Her face scrunched up in irritation.  
  
"Why the fuck are we here and not in some human settlement?" she asked, breaking the silence in between them that stretched for what seemed like hours instead of minutes. Ben popped an eye open and looked at her sideways before he closed them again.  
  
"And here I thought you were studying the Infected's behaviors." he commented with a yawn and raised a hand to cover his open mouth. "The infected have a much more prominent activity during the night compared to daytime."  
  
"I know, but why are we here and not wherever the fuck is this signal coming from?"  
  
As if she had pestered him, the man groaned and pulled himself away from the wall, running his hand through the locks of his thick mane, tugging at the ends as he propped one of his arms on his leg.  
  
"The signal is found at the other end of the city, somewhere hidden underground. I’m not in any mood to search the hideout in the middle of the night. So go to sleep too and then we'll leave in the morning." he said with finality and leaned back again on the wall, putting the back of his hand over his eyes to block out the light from the fire.  
  
"I don’t wanna."  
  
"Then don’t. Keep watch then" he muttered back to her behind his hand.   
  
Rey made a face and stuck out a tongue at him before turning around to look over the dark city before her through the bars of the railings line along the walls.   
  
D'Qar was pretty big compared to Niima, although compared to Niima whose buildings had begun crumbling under the weight of the growing plants; D'Qar however still stood magnificently and untouched. True that there may be a few broken areas like broken glass windows on infrastructures, piles of overturned cars that looked like they were crumpled up like paper scattered everywhere, and so on and so forth, but still, D'Qar still looked pretty much untouched compared to Niima.  
  
In the darkness of the night, even when she didn't squint, she could see movement from down below, the infected walking around. Unlike in popular culture of zombies that she had grown up to, the infected didn't walk aimlessly around, they didn't bump around walls like a bunch of idiots, instead these infected people seemed like they still retained some of their intelligence from when they were still uninfected.   
  
Rey stifled a yawn that almost escaped her lips, her eyelids feeling heavier and heavier by the minute. The soft snoring behind her made her turn around, watching Ben sleep soundly.  
  
In the dim light of the fire, the man's features only sharpened under the effect of clashing light and darkness. Rey took a good look at him, finally settling her gaze on the small white line that ran over his left eye and down to his cheek. It was an old scar, but one that is not old enough for her to remember him sporting it back when everything was still normal.   
  
Looking at it, it made her wonder how he had it in the first place. But that wasn’t the only new scar that she had seen on him. She had wanted to ask him about it but thought better, of course if she asked anything about him would make her look like she was actually concerned about him and would never hear the end of it from him.  
  
As she continued to stare, she found that his arms sported tiny scratch marks on his skin. They weren’t too deep to make a really clear scar, but they seem to be gashes and light scratches, like a cat or some small animal had pawed at his skin again and again.   
  
Sighing, Rey hugged her legs and pulled them close to her chest, propping her chin on her knees, her eyes slowly fluttering as the fire began to die out. 

* * *

A light pat on her cheek greeted her as she was pulled from a dreamless sleep. Rey tried to swat the hand away; hoping that she could go back to sleep, but the patting persisted.   
  
"Rey." That deep voice murmured so close to her ear. The hot breath grazed her skin, making her shiver. Dazed from sleep, she fluttered her eyes open and was greeted with Ben's smiling face, only a few inches away from her face.   
  
"Good morning sleepy head." he murmured, his dark eyes flickering down her face. She was sure he was staring at her mouth right now. Her eyes flashed open and in a split second, she bolted up and scooted away from him. A blush traitorously crept to her cheeks as her heart pounded with so much intensity.   
  
"Wha--" she managed to croak out, but no more words left her lips. Ben amusedly looked at her, handed her a bottle of water before speaking.  
  
"You fell asleep dummy. You were supposed to be keeping watch." he stated and moved away. Now that he was farther away, Rey now realized that he was blocking the light from the rising sun. So now she had to squint and glare at the offending light, blocking it with her hand.   
  
"We have to go now." Ben said as she opened the bottle and drank its contents. It was already morning, surely he could just give her, her stuff and she can merrily go on her way. But thinking about it, she was already here, so why not take a chance and look at things before leaving.   
  
Shortly afterwards, she and Ben left the building and hopped in to their vehicles. They continued on like that for about an hour before she noticed how Ben's car slowed down.   
  
"Pull over." he said to her when her bike was side by side with his car. Rey gave him a look.   
  
"Why?" she asked, but Ben only nodded towards the direction in front of them. Frowning, Rey followed the direction with her eyes, squinting at the building ahead.   
  
"That's our destination." Ben coolly told her. "But it’s swarmed with infected humans." he added. The frown on Rey's face deepened. Swarmed? She couldn’t see any from this distance.  
  
"I don’t--"   
  
"Look closer." he cut her off. Huffing out an irritated breath, Rey zoomed her bike pass his car, the building getting closer and closer. The movement from the windows was what confirmed what Ben had declared. Rey let go of the throttle and stepped on the break, letting her bike skid to a stop.   
  
It wasn’t obvious from afar, but the more she looked at it, the more she could see the infected wandering all around the building, not just outside, but also inside since she could see them moving. She barely heard Ben's car pull up right beside her, the only thing that pulled her out of gaping was the hand that dangled a pistol in front of her face. When she turned to the side to look at Ben, he was handing her another pistol and a couple of fully loaded magazines, a wicked smile on his face.   
  
"Come on, we've got some killing to do."  
  
Rey took the pistols with a similar smile gracing her lips.   
  



	7. Surprise, surprise!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 😺

"Are you sure the human settlement is inside that building?" Rey asked as she crouched down an overturned table inside a shop; the place where they were going to temporarily hide before they infiltrate the place.

"That’s where the signal points to." Ben coolly replied as he pulled out a grenade from one of his belt bags and playfully tossed it into the air once. Rey scrunched her face at the answer.

"If they're in there, why is there a swarm of infected surrounding the area? Aren’t they supposed to purge the infected around to secure the perimeter?"

Ben quirked a brow at her, giving her an amused look, the smile on his face seemingly taunted her and she could help but blush for no absolute fucking reason. He turned his attention then towards the area where most of the infected were lurking around, pulled the pin off the grenade and threw it across the street. Both of them simultaneously ducked and covered their ears, bracing themselves for the explosion.

A few seconds ticked by and a loud boom resonated in the air, the ground shook ever so faintly, but the explosion wasn’t that strong to actually create tremors. The scent of burning flesh and ash assaulted her nose the moment she and Ben rose from their hiding place.

Her eyes landed on the pile of bodies scattered everywhere on the street, some lying perfectly still with most of their body parts blown off. Most of the bodies had burn wounds that were deep enough that Rey could see through the bones beneath the skin.

"Like I said last night; it’s underground." Ben started, pulling out the large axe he had brought with him, using it to point at something over the direction of the explosion.

"That area's where we'll find the entrance to the bunker underneath. It’s not technically a basement, but more like an extended lower ground." He pulled his hand back and looked down at her.

"And what if they aren’t there?" Ben shrugged.

"Well at least we tried and checked it." He said and smiled smugly at her. "Coast is clear, you ready?"

Rey quirked an eyebrow at that question.

Was that even a question?

Instead of answering, she smugly smiled at him, pulling the guns she got from him. She waltzed out of their hiding place and sashayed her way cross the street.

The closer she got to the explosion site, the more she caught scent of the burning flesh of the dead bodies. She heard a couple of wails and growls from the ground. Amongst the pile of severed limbs and pool of blood, were a few of the infected that had survived the explosion.  Their white eyes were staring at her hungrily; those who still had their hands reached out to her, grabbing nothing but air.

Rey stared blankly at one infected by her feet, still alive even when the lower half of its body was gone, a huge gaping hole replacing where the skin of the stomach and hips were supposed to be. Its entrails swam in blood for a good feet away from the body.

This was something to be expected. Even when the infected were still vulnerable human beings, the virus made them tenacious that it was hard to kill them if they didnt aim for the head.

Hell even when half of their body gone, they could still hold on to dear life before they died. It was always the head. The stupid head where the brain was. Just like in the fucking movies. Unbelievable.

Lucky bastards, if only the virus didnt turn them into cannibals, it could’ve been a great help in the medical field.

The infected snarled weakly at her as she took her time raising the gun towards its head before pulling the trigger. The blood splattered upwards, staining her jeans, leaving a hole right in the middle of the infected's head.

The more the smoke cleared up, the more she could see a few remaining infected-- wounded but still whole-- coming towards her; one was crawling, another was limping and the last one was staggering to a sprint. Rey's senses heightened in alert, the grip on her pistol tightened as she made a run towards the faster of the three infected, kicking it down to the ground. Three rounds of bullets were wasted on this kill. Coolly, Rey turned her attention to the two remaining infected, immediately firing her weapon at them.

With her two victims down, it barely registered to her how there was a thwacking sound behind her, followed by grunts and growls.

The moment she turned, she saw Ben a few feet away, hacking his way through four infected with his axe. The spray of blood rose not only on his jeans but also splattered on his shirt and trickled a steady stream down his pale arms.

Rey scowled at how messy he was getting. But a nagging thought at the back of her mind wished that she could use that axe. Or that she had that chainsaw she saw at the depot the other day. Surely she could have her own fill of fun out of this trip she was dragged into.

There was a certain glint in Ben's eyes as he raised his axe wickedly high in the air before bringing it down hard. The head of the infected he just hit had almost split open at the impact. Another wave of blood splashed, this time drops of it touched Ben's face. He was on a spree, and Rey was silently getting jealous at the fun he was having.

Glowering at him, Rey watched as Ben looked at her, smiling wildly as he pulled on his weapon.

"Not used seeing something this gruesome, sweetheart?" he asked tauntingly. He stared at her dead on as he pulled the blade out of the skull, a sickening squelch and snap followed suit. There was a challenging glint in Ben's eyes, as if he was trying to intimidate her with how gruesome this was going to get.

A movement behind him caught her attention. But instead letting him know, she simply smiled, raised her pistol at him and fired. Ben didnt have enough time to neither move nor react, well lucky for him she didnt want him to, or else he might intercept the path of the bullet and miss her real target.

The bullet missed Ben's shoulder by an inch, zooming pass him and straight to the infected that was running towards their direction.

For a fleeting moment, Ben looked incredulous, looking the same way he had when she first shot him.

"Don’t call me that." she said, raising four fingers at him. "And that’s four for me." She simply said before turning away from him to shoot another infected that was making its way towards them, making her kills five in total.

When she heard another _thwack_ from Ben's axe, she knew that a game had begun between them. It was a race on who got to kill the most as they dispatched of the remaining infected and cleared the area, all the while feeling a wild thrill run through her veins as if killing the infected was some sort of sport.

The moment that all of her bullets were gone; Rey immediately took a piece of 2x2 wood as long as her arm. It took her a moment to pull it out of the rubble and had got it out just in time to whack it over the head of the last of the infected that had grabbed her by the arm. The infected staggered back at the impact for a moment, but as soon as it had recovered, it hissed at her, even when a huge gash was evident on its forehead and blood was trickling down.

Before letting it lunge at her, Rey bludgeoned the infected, aiming mostly on its head. After two hits it dropped to the ground unmoving, but Rey persisted in whacking its head till she could hear nothing but a sickening squelch of pounded meat and blood. When she was through, the head was almost unrecognizable.

"Damn, is it a sin if I say that, that looked hot?" Ben hollered from behind. Rey turned her narrowed gaze at him, watching how he lazily turned the axe in one arm as he made his way towards her. One of his hands was deep in his front pockets. Goddamit the man looked like he was walking casually in a fucking park as if they both hadn’t murdered countless people.

Rey decided not to grace that question with an answer, intent not to indulge Ben with that stupidity of his. She wasn’t going to allow him to irk her. She was going to see if there was indeed a damn human settlement. If there was then she'll pack her things up and move here. But on the chance (which was a pretty high chance) that there was not, well boohoo for him then. She lost nothing coming here, just her precious time.

Ben stood close to her, blood still dripping from various parts of his body. Not his blood though. Rey looked down at herself and saw that she was almost in the same state as him, although she made sure that none of the blood would accidentally go into her mouth, eyes or anywhere where it could infiltrate her bloodstream. She hadn’t heard of a human turning into one of the infected via blood and she had been exposed to infected blood for years now and so far she was fine. But it was still better to be safe than sorry.

"I'll admit; it’s fucking turning me on." Ben murmured close to her ear. Rey fixed him a glare, raising her chin to meet him head on.

"Everything turns you on Solo. Hell, you'll get turned on even if it’s just a pole with a skirt draped around it."

Ben made a pained face, clutching at his chest as if she had stabbed him. How she wished she did.

"Oh how could you Rey? I complimented you and you responded with an insult." Rey harrumphed and elbowed him hard on the stomach which made Ben double over for a moment, his breath momentarily lost from his body.

"Don’t come near me." she warned and walked away into the building. Even if she didnt look back, she knew that Ben was smiling mischievously. She could practically feel his gaze on her, only disappearing when she was finally inside the building.

She huffed in annoyance as she spun the wood she held once and trailed her gaze all around the lobby of the building. It was empty of course; except for the few broken debris of what she assumed were tables and chairs. It was a small building, with a door to the far left of the room and a stair case that led to the upper levels.

"There's a passage that will lead to the bunker downstairs." Ben said when he caught up to her, nodding towards the door with a fire exit sign at the far right corner of the room. Rey crossed her arms and took a fleeting glance behind them to check if there were any of the infected that was coming at them. So far there was none.

"How come you know all about this?" she asked suspiciously. "It seems odd that you'd know of this place and its secret passages. I can’t even tell that there is a passage behind that door."

Ben chuckled, raising his left arm where a small device sat on his forearm, it looked like a tablet.

"There are a few things I stole during the outbreak." he said, shrugging and wagging his eyebrows at her. "I got lucky to get the advanced tech."

"Prove It.'" she demanded. Ben sighed and waved his left hand towards her to get a closer look. He pressed on the screen where it instantly light up and showed a complex blueprint of what it seems like a building.

"It’s a scanner, giving me the interior and exterior schematics of an infrastructure. That includes underground structures as well." he explained as she stared in awe at the tech on his arm. "Unfortunately this can only be used to detect structures and not humans underneath. So we have to do it ourselves." He pulled his hand away which made her scowl. She wasn’t done looking at it yet.

Oh well, she could just steal it from him. Maybe.

"Let’s go before any of the infected get whiff of us here and follow us inside." He ordered and walked on ahead of her.

She scowled at his back, silently murdering him in her mind. Ben had always been authoritative. Maybe that was the reason why he was in the military. According to what she knew, Ben loved travelling. He had his father's heart as what Leia had said to her. So why join the military?

Rey felt a cold draft blew her way, making her shiver. It was getting cold, but Ben seemed unfazed. Maybe it was just an after effect for being drenched in the rain yesterday.

True enough, there was a passage, a small entrance covered by the fire hose cabinet. The entrance led them down a staircase where it gradually got darker and darker the lower they descended. At some point Ben had pulled out a glow stick, illuminating their path with a bleak green glow.

The end of the staircase was a metal door; unlocked and was slightly ajar. She gave a quick glance at Ben who was staring at the door hard, his jaws grinding together. That couldn’t be good. They Rey realized that it was too eerily quiet. Where were the people?

Seeing that Ben had no plans to push the door open, she did the honors herself, listening to the metallic creak bounce off the concrete walls.

As she had suspected, there was no one here. The secret bunker was devoid of humans. In the weak light of the glow stick and from a small opening that seemed like a skylight that let the sunlight from outside in, Rey saw the empty shelves and cabinets, overturned tables and chairs. Whoever had lived here must’ve left in a hurry, leaving some equipment and furniture behind. One particular equipment had a small light blinking at its screen. Probably the beacon that was sending the signal.

"That’s another one." Ben commented, breaking the silence. His voice was oddly soft, as if he had lost all energy. Rey turned to look at him. The defeated look he had on his face felt like there was something squeezing at her chest.

She resisted the urge to walk over to him and put a hand over his shoulder to comfort him.

"Don’t worry, there will be others." she said, trying to lighten the mood of this failed mission. Ben looked up at her and smiled. Not that stupid smug grin of his, but that one smile where he was genuinely happy for something so trifle.

Before he could even give back a response, a clank was heard from across the room. Immediately she and Ben perked up, thinking that it might be a survivor, or worse an infected.

The sound seemed like there was a can dropped, a rolling sound continued on till it stopped after hitting the wall. Ben leaned the glow stick over to get a better view of the darker part of the room.

A faint scratching sound followed as a pair of glowing eyes appeared and came out of the darkness.

"Meow." the orange and white tabby cat mewled at them as they both stared at it dumbfounded.


	8. Ok, fine!

"A cat?" Ben rasped out as he took a step back, staring down at the feline that swished its tail and stared back at him, another mewl escaping from its mouth.

"A cat." she echoed him breathlessly, still staring at the small creature at their feet. She couldn’t believe it, there was a live cat right in front of her.

This wasn’t a dream was it? But then she remembered that Ben was with her, if it was some dream, then with Ben in it, it would count as a nightmare.

No, she wasn’t dreaming, nor having a nightmare, this was real. The cat was real.

Without waiting for anything, she tentatively crouched down on her haunches, a smile breaking on her face as she reached a hand towards the cat to coax it to come to her.  

"Hey there little buddy." she whispered.

The cat flicked its eyes towards her, the iris blown wide with awe at her. Disregarding the hulking figure before him, the cat sauntered close to Rey, finding her company more pleasant than Ben's. It mewled again as it nuzzled her hand. Closing its eyes and purring contentedly.

The moment she had touched the cat confirmed that she was not dreaming (well she had doubts okay? She just wanted to be sure she wasn’t going crazy because of one man's presence)

"Looks like they left him behind." she commented as she petted the cat, glancing towards Ben who simply watched her with arms crossed.

There was an irritated scowl on his face along with a tinge of disgust on it. Rey knew this look, she had seen it a couple times in the past and she'll admit she felt a surge of power whenever she does see it. The reason behind that irate look on Ben's face; he hates cats— No scratch that, he was afraid of them.

"Seems like it." he said gruffly which made Rey burst out into a fit of laughter. When she swiped the tears away from her eyes, she saw Ben glowering at her.

Good.

"Seriously?" she said as she rolled her eyes and scooped up the cat that came with her willingly. "You still don’t like cats? They're like, endangered species already given the circumstances of our world."

"Still don’t like them." Ben said with finality. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him again and instead scratched under the jaw of the cat.

This was rich! Even though he was a hulking figure, Ben was still scared of cats. Him saying that he didnt like them was pure bullshit. He was just saying that to keep his stupid manly pride.

Before she could even make a rude comment, another mewl caught her attention. Rey whipped her head back to where the cat she was holding came from, and lo!

Out from the shadows came a plump black cat. Unlike the orange one that she held, this cat had a bored look on its face. Sitting back on its hind legs and stared at them.

"There’s another one." Rey gasped, her smile widening and stifling a laugh when she had subtly heard a strangling noise coming from Ben's direction.

"Come here kitty." she said and reached out one hand to have the other one come to her. But the black cat had snubbed her call and simply flicked its bored eyes towards Ben's direction. Much like what the orange cat had done.

Speaking of the orange cat, it suddenly sprang out of Rey's arms as soon as the black one had appeared. It ran towards it and bounced all around it before nuzzling his face all over the side.

Rey walked closer to the two cats and whipped her head around the poorly lit room, squinting hard to see if there was another cat or another creature in the vicinity. But there was none.

It was startling how they had managed to survive all this time without any human to take care of them, and they were all alone in this room, with no way out.

Just a vent to provide a small amount of light and air from outside. The water trickling from an open faucet and the pile of food packets had told her that that was the way these two had survived hunger. Judging by the looks of the empty food packets, these two were going to die of hunger in a few days had she and Ben not come to this place.

"We have to take them with us." she declared, gently scooping up the black cat— who still regarded her with an uninterested look, but came with her willingly— and walked pass Ben up the stairs. The orange cat was following close by.

"I'll put them in your car."

"Oh hell no." Ben exclaimed from behind her. It stopped her from her tracks, whipping her head back towards him to fix him a menacing glare.

"What?"

Ben stood at the bottom of the stairs, right outside the door. His arms were crossed over his chest and he had that stupid stubborn look on his face.

"You wanted to take the cats, take them with you in your bike. But I’m not allowing any of them in my car."

If she wasn’t holding the pregnant cat in her arms, Rey would’ve lunged at him and gave him a whack in the head. Instead she had let out a scoff and continued on upwards.

"I can’t possibly bring them with me in my bike. If you had brains then you'd realize that my bike doesn’t have a passenger's seat." she said, taking two steps at a time. Behind her, she could hear Ben's heavy footsteps following close.

"I'm putting them in your car.' she said with finality as they exited the secret entrance and back to the surface. Luckily the premise was still devoid of live infected humans. The ones that they had left dead are still swimming in their own pool of blood and entrails. The stench stronger than earlier.

"Rey you can’t—"

"Look stupid ass," she cut him off, already irritated with this stupid childish fear of cats.

"These two might be the only ones left in this world. I only ask is for you to suck it up just this once, help me get them to my house and you can leave. Forever." she added the last word hesitatingly for a reason that she herself couldn’t say.

Didn't she want him out of her life? Nah, it was probably because of the idea that all hope wasn’t lost. That even if it was Benjamin Solo who was the last person on earth apart from her, there was still hope.

But she still hates his ass.

Thinking about it made a shiver run up her spine, not in a gross way but in a fucking pleasurable way that made the logical part of her head recoil.

Ugh. Just go home and forget all about it.

"Now let’s go before one of those motherfucking infected gets a whiff of us and—"

A series of footsteps were heard from afar.

Shit.

"Fuck!" Ben hissed out as he pulled out his axe hanging behind him. "Okay, Fine!"

"Let’s go!" She said and began sprinting towards the place where they kept their transportations. Behind her, Ben swooped up the orange cat with a disgusted look on his face and followed her, running pass her in record time. By the time they reached the car, Ben was already in the driver's seat, the orange cat sitting comfortably in the backseat. Rey deposited the black one beside him, giving Ben one quick glance.

"See you on the road." was she said before she went to her own bike and sped out to the street.

* * *

Funny.

The travel to D'Qar felt too long for her, especially since she had been drenched under the rain yesterday and she was still wearing yesterday's clothes.

But now that they were going back to Niima, the trip felt relatively short. Of course night had reached them, but they were still on the road, and it looked like they had a mutual understanding that there was no chance that they would camp out in the open. So they moved on, reaching her home around midnight.

Well to say, the trip they had made to D'Qar wasn’t really a total failure. True there were no humans since the settlement had been abandoned, but they still found the cats. And the place looked like it had been abandoned recently so there was a chance that wherever they were, the uninfected humans were just around, waiting to be found or to find them.

"Gah! Get out already!" Ben's voice boomed in the air, alongside the decreasing sound of her bike. The moment she had crossed the border, closed the barrier and skidded to a stop, Ben's hulking figure had approached her, an irritated look on his face that made a grin split on her face.

"Anything wrong Solo?" she innocently asked, knowing full well what was pulling on his strings.

"Get that damned cat out of my car." he murmured out, his tone hard.

She had to suppress a giggle before sliding out of her bike and walked towards the car. The passenger's seat door was wide open and just outside of it, the orange cat was sitting on the ground, head tilted up towards the car as if waiting. When she peered inside, the black cat was comfortably sitting on the passenger's seat, mewling when she saw her.

"Get it out now." Ben's voice popped behind her, ordering her. Ugh, was it going to kill him if he asked nicely? Sheesh.

Rolling her eyes, Rey motioned for the cat to come to her. When it did nothing, she stepped forward to just scoop her out, but the moment Rey moved, the cat stood up and backed up, not willing to be taken from her throne.

"Looks like she doesn’t want to go out." she pointed out, stepping back from the car. The moment Ben turned to his side to look at the situation; the black cat mewled and looked at his direction, its tail swishing excitedly.

It doesn’t take an expert to tell her what was happening. One look was all it took for her to know what this cat wanted.

"Or," she started, earning a look from Ben which she returned with a knowing grin. "Or she wants you to take her."

"What no way!" Ben's eyes almost bulged out from their sockets as he took a step backwards. Rey resisted the urge to slap him. Maybe she could throw something his way again?  Nah, he'll easily evade every projectile she'll throw at him.

"Come on Solo, you carried the orange one earlier when we were about to be chased down by another infected."

"That was an emergency."

"What do you call this then?"

"A nuisance."

Rey snorted and crossed her arms across her chest. Well if he wasn’t going to suck it up, she was going to leave him in this state. And she was going to enjoy every single moment watching him make a fool of himself.

She backed away and sat on the ground. The orange cat sitting beside her, swishing its tail nonchalantly as it shifted its gaze from her and Ben in silent wonder.

"Your car, your problem." she said. "Looks like you're going to be stuck here."

The last sentence she had said just came out of her mouth that she barely noticed herself saying them. But the moment that the words had registered in her head, the smile on her face froze at the same time the one on Ben's face widened.

_Oh shit._

At that moment, everything shifted from Ben, to her.

"I'm okay with that." Ben titters. "Guess I'll be staying here then."  He announced, backing up and slowly started making his way towards her house. Rey jumped up to speed towards him but a flash of black stopped her.

The black cat had jumped out of the car and was following Ben around. Rey watched the spectacle, how Ben tried to run from the cat, but it seemed like it was as tenacious as he was and just followed. When Ben ran, the cat ran too. And that left Rey and the orange cat grounded, watching the two play chase.

At one time. Ben had jumped in his car and was about to start the engine when he realized that the black cat was sitting in the back seat, getting in the car through the open window.

"Fuck! Fuck!" Ben cursed out as he punched the steering wheel once and jumped out of the car. As expected, the cat followed.

So she was right after all, the cat wanted Ben to take her.

But Ben didn't want the cat. He hates them; apparently this cat was as stubborn as he was. Or she just like riling up Ben's feathers as much as Rey did.

Well one way or another she can’t possibly force the cat to stay with her.

_Trick it._ That was an option, but she had to endure another night with Ben Solo.

This is going to be the third night, she noted.

Huffing out defeated, she marched towards the direction where Ben was currently punching the steering wheel of his car, clearly annoyed by the situation.

Who knew one cat would result for this grown man to act this way? _Ah, only Ben Solo._

Rey opened the car to his surprise, reached in and grabbed the man by his collar, pulling him close to her.

"Listen up Solo." she started, looking straight right into Ben's surprised eyes. The honey brown color seemed like black in the dark, swirling like an abyss. She found herself staring for a spilt second, immediately chastising herself as soon as she realized this. She leaned back a bit.

_Damn it Rey, why do you do this to yourself?_

"Let’s try tricking her." she continued.  "Once she's inside the house and distracted, or asleep, leave then."

"So you're saying I should stay over till I get the chance to get out while the cat's distracted?" he repeated, she answered with a nod and let go of his shirt. Tilting her head to the side to motion for him to follow, Rey sauntered on ahead with Ben following close behind her.

As expected both cats were following them.

Perfect! Now all they needed to do was to distract the black cat and Solo can freely go.

Simple right? Apparently the cat didn't agree with her. 


	9. Let the game begin!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick heads up! I may not update this fic in a while... cause I'll try focusing on finishing black heart first before resuming this. 
> 
> I've been trying to insert an image here, but because I'm an idiot I can't for the life of me, figure out how the hell to do it. So there... no moodboards 😂

"Come on Rey, its noon already!"

Pressing her eyse close tighter, Rey wished for the voice to go away, completely ignoring it as she groaned out and buried her face deeper in the soft pillows of her bed, momentarily cutting off her supply of oxygen. She didn't care if she couldn't breathe. As of this moment, she was very happy to accept death if that would mean that she could escape this situation she was in.

She wanted to die.

No, seriously she wanted to, and it was all because of Ben Solo's fault.

When Ben continued to pound on her door like a lunatic, she screamed onto her pillow, contemplating as to why she even considered it in the first place to let him in her house. It was a pain to get him out the first time he was here, not to mention he had managed to drag her ass to D'Qar because he had barged into her home even when she didn't want to.

But now that it was her who actually suggested for him to stay, and she regretted it, finally living in the earthly embodiment of hell, right in her own home.

_Maybe it was time to look for a new one?_

Rey raised her head from the pillow and glared at her door where Ben was still knocking non-stop at it.

_Dude, just stop!_ Seriously he already knew that she was awake, who wouldn't be awake with him knocking as if he was banging a hammer on wood?

Well, he was allowed to stay here just until Ninee would stop following him, but that damn cat seemed like it had a leash tied to its neck that was connected to Ben. For days, wherever Ben goes, Ninee follows, heck the cat even sits just outside of the bathroom door when Ben uses it and even find ways to sleep beside him no matter how he tried to avoid her.

Yup that cat certainly had it bad for Ben.

Beebee on the other hand was the sweet one and the one who wasn't a hassle to take care of. Just leave him food and water and something to play with and he's right as rain for the rest of the day.

With Ninee looking like she had no plans to surrender following Ben, Rey had no idea how to get Ben out of her house without having to let Ben take the cat, even though it was pretty obvious that Ben didn't want anything to do with Ninee.

But if she took back her decision of letting him stay with her till the cat stopped following him, He was absolutely going to call her a coward.

And a chicken.

And a whole lot of new rounds of insults directed at her.

_How fucking great._

"Rey?" Ben's voice called out from the other side of the door. From there, she could hear a soft, faint scratch on the wood, telling her that Beebee was trying to coax her out of her room as well, with Ninee sitting nonchalantly behind the two of them.

Well, if she can't get rid of Ben, then she would just ignore him. Yep, she was going to stay in her room for the rest of  her life. Or until Ben Solo was out of her life again.

A few more persistent knocks came ravaging on her bedroom door.

It was a fleeting feeling, something akin to a passing thought, but Rey was absolutely sure that something in her snapped at the continuous knocking, and she was also sure that it was her patience.

"Fuck you Solo!" She screamed out at him, her temper finally reaching its limit.

"I'd rather do you if I could, sweetheart." His chuckle rang deep.

Fuck, she could actually feel the vibrations coming from it. Rey buried her face deeper into the pillow, groaning.

God! If she could only turn back time she would.

Oh she definitely would, back to that moment where she had her gun pointed at him. Only this time she wasn’t going to aim at the chest on the first shot.

The smell of cooked food assaulted her nose the moment she raised her head off of the pillow, her stomach grumbling in protest.

Wallowing in regret, Rey rolled over her bed till she dropped on the floor with a loud thud, eliciting nothing but a soft 'oomph ‘from her.

"Rey? What was that?" Ben pried from the other side of the door; he clearly hadn’t pissed off even when she had told him to. Rolling her eyes annoyingly, she rose to her feet and staggered her way to the noisy door.

One more knock, just one more knock on her door and she was definitely going to knock a few teeth off of Solo's mouth.

She found him with one hand raised, poised for another series of loud banging on hard wood the moment she opened her door.

Ben's eyes widened when he met hers, him visibly stiffening at the sight of her. Yeah she knows she looked absolutely fucked up with her hair sticking in all directions, her clothes all rumpled up and an annoyed scowl plastered on her face as she glared at him through red eyes.

But the look of shock on his face didn't last long, replaced by a Cheshire smile slowly growing on his face.

"Mornin' sweetheart." He drawled.

Rey clenched her hands to her side, fighting the urge to smack his face with her right hook. Well he deserved it for waking her up too goddamn early, even if he had mentioned that it was almost noon. It was her goddamn house, she can sleep in whenever she fucking pleases.

The sassy retort she was about to throw at him choked back in her throat the moment her eyes glazed over Ben's entire body, her breath hitched.

Holy fuck! Why is he _NOT_ wearing a shirt?!

Here was Ben Solo, parading around her home in nothing but a grey sweatpants on, showing off the muscles on his body. Try as she might, she couldn’t stop her eyes from roving the expanse of his body, swallowing the lump on her throat as she continued to ogle at him, memorizing every inch, every curve.

Funny, she had seen him parading around shirtless a few years back, but his skin back then was smooth, only marred by the constellations of moles.

But now... scars. Scars played their way through his skin. White, thin and thick scars crisscrossed his body as if it was a blank canvas drawn on by a child.

"Why—do—" her words caught in a tangle as she forcefully averted her gaze away from him.

"D—don't you have a shirt or something to put on?" She stuttered, scrunching her face in annoyance. "Why the hell are you parading my house half naked?!"

She almost screeched. Feeling the heat blooming on her face, Rey shoved her way past Ben who had a knowing smile on his face, his eyes twinkling, teasing.

Damn him! She knew he had caught her staring, and she wasn’t going to give him the enjoyment at seeing her embarrassed state, her face flushing a deep scarlet.

Even without glancing back, she knew he shrugged.

"Too damn hot." He commented, the patter of his feet was loud behind her as he closed the distance. She was quick to add more between them, pacing towards the overhead cabinets in the kitchen, quickly grabbing a plate.

Too damn hot eh? Then why didn't he just fan himself then? Or do anything to get cooled down. A shower would do nicely for the heat.

Rey froze for a moment when her brain had practically pictured Ben Solo taking a shower. Now knowing what Ben looked like without the shirt, Rey's brain had easily imagined water running down the expanse of his body, little drops of water dripping from the tips of his black hair, running slowly down his pale scarred chest. Now if only she could see how he looks down below...

_Ah fuck! Stop Rey! Stop! Don't even go there!_

Rey spared him a glare before slamming down her plastic plate on the table with a loud bang, the items on the table clattering at the impact.

Damn him! He knew she had stared and was relishing in delight at her flustered state.

Typical Solo.

Always enjoying watching people’s embarrassment. But it was not her who was the only one affected to the sight of one another. He may be a confident, cocky son of a bitch but she knows, oh she knows alright, that she was not the only one who wasn't immune to this kind of game. Ben Solo wasn't totally immune to her, and that was her trumph card that she rarely uses.

Ben turned his back towards her, showing her his broad back that was marred with more longer scars compared to the front, as he bent down to pull the frying pan out of the stove and placed it on the sink, finally finished heating up the canned meat for their breakfast.

Emboldened by her annoyance and lust for revenge, Rey grabbed the hem of her camisole and pulled it over her head, draping the fabric over one shoulder as if she was wiping herself using it, leaving her only in her blue sports bra.

“You know, you’re right. “ she said slowly, smiling wickedly as she leaned on the table with her arms crossed over her chest. “It is too damn hot today.

"Did I hear that right?" Mockery was evident in Ben's amused voice. "Did I just hear you say I'm ri—"

Ben faltered with his sentence the moment he turned to face her, a bowl of hot canned meat in one hand and a mug of water in the other. Rey enjoyed how Ben's eyes widened at the sight of her, how both his hands tightened around what they were holding.

Hell she could even hear his breath coming in deep and slow as if he was controlling himself.

And then, Ben smiled. A taunting knowing smug, something that she had not expected.

Slowly, Ben placed the bowl and the cup on the table and propped his hands on the sides of the wooden table; a feat only he could pull of with those ridiculously long arms of his.

Ben leaned towards her, looming above her as she stared up at him with the same challenging smirk he had on his stupid face.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing, sweetheart?" he rasped out, his face close enough for Rey to feel his hot breath fanning her cheek.

Rey tilted her head to one side, narrowing her gaze at him.

"You're not the only one who can play this game. Solo." She challenged. "You think you're so cocky, teasing me so, but I know Solo, that you are not that immune to me. I affect you as much as I am."

"Well if I wasn't, then I wouldn't be teasing you, would I?" Ben teased. His face was slowly coming closer, something that Rey knew that she had to watch out for, that she had to slap his face away before he could even get close. But for some reason, she didn't. She even found herself leaning forward, licking her lips as she anticipated what was going to happen.

"Well," she whispered, leaning closer. "Teasing you is going to be fun, and giving you blue balls too."

Ben's smile grew wider at that.

"You're not gonna last long in this game, sweetheart. Pretty soon, you're going to be the one begging me to fuck you."

Ah so that was it huh? She wasn't going to last? Well, she was going to show him that he was going to be the one to lose in this game.

With their faces merely inches away, Rey fluttered her eyes at him, licking her lips tentatively at that moment when she was sure that he was looking at her mouth. She took her fair share of enjoying the view of his face infront of her, watching his handsome features shift from one emotion to another, his normally brown eyes seemed black because of the blown pupils.

She leaned in closer once more, their lips almost grazing.

"Game on."

_Clang_.

Cocking their heads towards the direction of the sound, they both found Ninee on top of the table, tail swishing excitedly as she enjoyed her fill of the canned food that was on Ben's bowl.

Ben jerked up, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Hey that's my food!" he straightened and lunged at the cat, with Ninee dodging away perfectly. Ben chased down the cat, leaving Rey howling in laughter in the kitchen.


End file.
